


A Few Flubbed Lifts (And One Very Successful One)

by plantboycharms



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Adventure Time - Freeform, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bubblegum, College, F/F, Shoplifting, Shopping Malls, hallmark, ive never watched adventure time, money to the cashier, shoplifting au, this was a gift for my roommate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 08:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7838098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plantboycharms/pseuds/plantboycharms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bonnibel works at a Hallmark in a very, very boring mall. Nothing happens. <br/>Then a strange girl shows up and suddenly, things are happening. <br/>Maybe Bonnibel liked it better before things happened. Maybe she didn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bonnibel

She noticed it on a weekday. The scruffy looking girl shuffled in with her backpack on for the millionth time, staring around at the shelves. That girl always came in around the same time, always with the same backpack, and never bought anything. She was one of the very few customers to actually wander into the Hallmark at the end of the shabby mall that Bonnibel worked at, so of course, she noticed her. Every day after school, Bonnibel took her post at the tiny cluttered counter, not sitting on the tiny stool offered to her, preferring to stand perfectly still and rail straight for the duration of her shift. 

The girl wasn’t anything special. Her clothes were worn and her backpack was shabby. It was clearly full of notebooks, school stuff, so Bonnibel had worked out that she must get off the bus that stopped outside the mall and wait around inside for something, a ride, or another bus. Bonnibel wasn’t sure. Someday she would ask. 

The girl used her hair as something of a mask, the long black sheets of it falling in front of her face when she looked down. Bonnibel had never had straight hair like that, and she wasn’t sure if she was jealous or not. Her pink locks were always perfectly coiffed and her roots carefully dealt with on a weekly basis. (Do you even KNOW how hard it is to keep bubblegum pink hair looking nice? Bonnibel was prideful and took great care of her hair. She would never let it look less than perfect.)

Usually the girl did the same few things. Walked in, head down, wandered the tiny aisles picking up tiny baubles and pens and things, then shuffle out again. But this time, Bonnibel noticed the quick sleight of hand that took the pen in her hand and flashed it up the sleeve of her red plaid flannel. The pen was gone, hidden, and then the girl was too, picking up a few more things as she made her way out. They all made it back to their homes, but the pen was just… gone. And suddenly Bonnibel understood. 

Bonnibel had never dealt with a shoplifter. She didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t stop this girl. Her palms started to sweat. She was used to her usual “Hi, welcome” when people walked in, “Have a good one” when they left, and the awkward stuffy quiet of the muzak that played in the background as she stared them down while they wandered. She opened her mouth to stop her, but nothing came out. She closed her mouth again. The girl was gone. Too late now. She was left alone again, stuck with her thoughts and a horribly done jazz version of some Beatles song. 

The girl looked shabby. Maybe she was really poor. She needed to steal things to feed herself. Maybe. Or maybe this was the first time she had done it. It could have been an accident. Bonnibel didn’t know. But there was also the nagging voice in her mind, telling her that she was wrong. Did she not remember the sheet in the back room that she had signed a few weeks back, informing her of the “shrink awareness program”? That was there for a reason, the voice in her head said. Things had been vanishing more and more these days. Inventory was down but so were sales. This mall was dismal. Nobody visited it except the senior citizens from the senior homes across the way or high schoolers that took the bus. This mall was going down and Bonnibel was sure that she was going to go down with it. 

Finally, her shift was over and her coworker Jake came to take over for her. She considered telling him about the girl and the pen. She opened her mouth to say something but ended up just telling him all was quiet and that there was nothing to report. He sent her out with some quip about nothing ever happening at Hallmark. Bonnibel wasn’t listening, really. She was thinking about that girl again. She wandered out, somewhere between distracted and preoccupied.   
Why hadn’t she said anything? She could have told Jake. Or left a note. She had walked past the security booth, even. She could have mentioned it. The security there was the only thing that really got any business, and they were on top of it. One offense and you were out of there, banned for life. Everyone had heard stories of the woman who had stolen a sweater from Victoria’s Secret and been tackled in front of the Zara. But for whatever reason, she didn’t say a thing. She was waiting. For what, she wasn’t sure yet. But she had to wait.   
***  
Days passed, and Bonnibel still didn’t know what it was she was waiting for. Her shifts were slow, as always, and she liked it like that. Nothing happened at Hallmark.   
When the girl walked in again for the first time in days, Bonnibel realized what it was she was waiting for. She had been waiting for her to come back. For whatever reason, she had been waiting for the scruffy girl from the bus to come back. 

This time, it was a stuffed bear holding a heart that said “Get well soon!” that flashed into the cupholder on the side of the backpack. Quicker than the blink of an eye. Nobody would have noticed, except Bonnibel, who was watching for it. And again, she said nothing as the girl walked out, except her well-rehearsed “Have a good one.”  
***  
The fifth time that Bonnibel watched the strange girl shoplift, they made eye contact. The girl froze. Bonnibel did too. They just stared at each other, holding perfectly still. Bonnibel felt her face slowly go pink. The girl was pale as a sheet. Bonnibel was the first to blink, as she tore her eyes away from her gaze. She looked down at the counter, as casually as she could. The girl stood still, staring at Bonnibel still. Bonnibel could feel her eyes on her as she started fussing with the pens on the counter. After rearranging them in the cup for what felt like the hundredth time, the girl cast her eyes down and walked out, head down. She made her way out and vanished to the left, towards the door. Bonnibel finally looked up, just soon enough to see her hurrying out, head down, hair covering her face. 

When Bonnibel finally trudged out of the mall, the girl was sitting on the bench directly outside of the door that she always used to get to her car. It wasn’t the most well-used bench in the place, but it wasn’t too out of the ordinary that someone should be sitting there. There went Bonnibel’s theory about the waiting-for-a-ride mall wandering, though. If she was waiting for someone, she would have been gone by now. (Unless she was waiting for someone else, Bonnibel’s brain cut in.) When Bonnibel walked out, the girl’s head shot up to look at her. As soon as they made eye contact, Bonnibel went pink again. The girl looked like she was about to say something, but Bonnibel didn’t know if she wanted to hear it. She pulled her eyes away again and kept walking towards her car. She got almost all the way out to the curb when she heard the girl speak for the first time. 

“Wait!” 

Bonnibel stopped. She didn’t turn around immediately, but she knew she was going to. She was too intrigued to leave now. She turned on her heel and walked back, keeping her head up high and her back straight as always. She approached the bench, (too fast, her mind registered too late) and sat down next to the strange girl. An awkward pause later and the girl finally said, almost angrily, “Why did you do that?” 

Bonnibel didn’t have an answer, really. She didn’t know why. But she couldn’t really just tell this strange girl that, could she? The gears in her brain ground around and around, until she finally gave up on justifying her strange obsession with the shoplifting girl. “I don’t know,” she said, truthfully. “I just… didn’t know what to say, I guess.” 

They sat in silence for a few moments. Finally, the girl said “I’m Marceline, but most people call me Marcy.” 

Bonnibel was confused. This didn’t really seem like the time for introductions. She could get this girl in serious trouble. But here she was, sitting with her on a bench outside the shabbiest mall in the county. And now, she guessed, about to introduce herself. Like they were friends or something.

“Bonnibel” 

“What?”

“My name. Is Bonnibel.”

“Oh. Nice to meet you, I guess.”

Several more moments passed. Bonnibel could tell that this girl, Marceline, was glancing over at her. She didn’t know if she wanted to make eye contact again, though. So she sat, still, rail-straight, staring straight ahead, next to the shoplifter, slumped over with her chin in her hands. 

Bonnibel was getting tired of the silence. She had questions. And if she wasn’t going to get answers, she was going to get going. Busy woman, places to be. But she didn’t know how to ask without it being awkward. Wait, the voice in her head said, who cares if you make it awkward, you’ll likely never see her again. 

The voice in her head had a point. 

“Why do you do it?”

Marceline’s head snapped up. Her back stiffened and she stared at Bonnibel for a moment or two before her head slowly sank back down to stare at the ground once more. She seemed at a loss for words, thought Bonnibel. 

“I… I’m not really sure. I just… My dad, you know?”  
There was a pause while Bonnibel tried to figure out a way to say that no, she didn’t know, but then the girl laughed, softly at first, but getting louder.  
“No, you don’t know! How would you know? That would be weird. Come on Marcy, get yourself together!” She was still laughing, and Bonnibel started to laugh too. For whatever reason, this strange girl, Marceline, was charming. And Bonnibel was, well, charmed. 

The two laughed together for a while, then slowly the laughter died down, and as Marceline wiped tears from her eyes, Bonnibel shook her hair out of her face. They were left in another lull of quiet, but this one was less tense. Bonnibel felt more comfortable with this Marceline already, and they had only just… met? Sort of. 

The silence stretched out, a little too long. Bonnibel knew the second it got awkward, and started to blush again. She should go, she thought. But she didn’t really want to go home. She had homework she was putting off, and she didn’t want to be alone in her apartment. So she waited to see if Marceline would say anything.

She didn’t. 

So Bonnibel thought, hell, why not, and asked her. 

“Are you waiting for someone?” 

Marceline laughed again, quietly, and said “Well, I missed my bus, so… I guess not.” 

Bonnibel felt hot again. Marceline had missed her bus. Because she was waiting for her? Probably. This was embarrassing. Why was she blushing? She didn’t know how to stop her face from betraying her as she stuttered out “Uh, do you, um, need a ride? Or something? Sorry” 

Marceline chuckled nervously and looked away. There was a silence again, and then she replied, “I mean, I live kinda far, I’ll be fine here. Don’t worry about it.”

Bonnibel looked swiftly at her. Here? As in, stay here? No way. 

“No, really. Where do you live? I’ll take you there. You can’t stay here.”

Marceline looked up at her again, her eyes soft and open. Bonnibel had to stop herself from gasping. This was the first time that her eyes hadn’t been cold and hard, closed off. They were warm and gentle, and Bonnibel got even redder in the face. Marceline smiled widely, and said, “Really? Alright, that’s so sick, thanks man.” Her smile lit up her whole face. 

Bonnibel’s breath caught in her throat, but she stood up and said “Let’s go, it’s getting cold.” It was true. The sun had fallen behind the buildings and the autumn chill was setting in. She rubbed her hands together to warm them, and Marceline sprang to her feet, her heavy boots seemingly light as she bounded forward. Bonnibel laughed gently as she caught up and walked next to Marceline towards her car. 

They didn’t say anything until she unlocked the car and Marceline hesitated before opening the passenger door. Bonnibel craned her head to see over the headrest and said “So, where are we headed?” as she put her bag in the backseat. Marceline hesitated again before saying “Just head towards the Skyview apartments and I’ll direct you after that. It’s kinda complicated.” Bonnibel understood. That was not the nicest part of town, it was understandable that Marceline should need to take a bus. And that she should be embarrassed to say where she lived. But Bonnibel didn’t say anything, other than “Alright, let’s go” as she got into the driver’s side and started the engine.


	2. Marcy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcy was in a strange situation, really. But it wasn't all bad.

Sitting in the passenger side of the Hallmark clerk’s car wasn’t the strangest thing she had done, but Marcy realized that an odd turn of events had taken her here. First, getting caught shoplifting, then waiting for her to come out (why did she do that?), then almost getting into her sordid dad-leaving-her, living-alone deal… and now she was just sitting here in the car, next to the pink haired girl who had the power to ruin her at any time. And yet, the girl, Bonnie, had laughed with her and then offered her a ride home. What was she doing? Was she trying to pull something on her? Or was she just a genuinely nice person? Marcy couldn’t tell yet. All she could tell was that there was no sound in this car, despite the excessively nice stereo installed in the dash. She considered asking if she could turn on some tunes, but decided against it.

As they drove, Marcy realized that she wouldn’t be able to get away with asking Bonnie to drop her off in front of the apartment complex by where her house was. It was too dark for her to walk. She was going to have to let Bonnie drive her all the way up to her house, as complicated as it was to get to. Why did she have to live alone in the hills? It was really quite a hassle sometimes. But she had missed her bus waiting for Bonnie to come out of the lamest mall in the world. 

She had gotten herself into this mess. 

She cursed herself silently as she stared out the window. How did she let herself get caught? Making eye contact with the person with the alarm? Really? Come on, Marcy, she thought to herself, get it together. Seriously. If you had just kept your eyes down, like you usually do, you wouldn’t be in this mess. But the girl, Bonnie, had some kind of draw to her. She couldn’t keep her eyes off of her. 

Thinking this, Marcy realized it had been a while since she had looked over at Bonnie. She could feel Bonnie’s eyes flickering back and forth between watching the road and looking over at her, but she didn’t want to make eye contact again. She was letting her guard down. 

And yet. 

She took her chin out of her hand and glanced over at Bonnie, who was resolutely staring at the road, still sitting straight as a rail behind the wheel. Did she ever relax? Marcy thought. They were getting closer to the apartments, and she was about to start to have to give directions so that Bonnie would be able to find her house. She didn’t want to talk yet, but it was about that time. 

“You’re gonna turn left up there, and then it’s the first right and you’ll have to drive a bit up into the hills”

Bonnie seemed surprised. Marcy knew it, Bonnie had assumed she lived in the shitty apartments at the bottom of the hill. This was going to make things even more awkward. Her house was too big for her shoplifting habit to make any sense. Bonnibel wouldn’t understand that she was just… trying to do something with her life. She didn’t really understand it, really. She just had to do something. So she wasn’t a disappointment. Or something. 

The car was getting close to the turnoff for her house. Marcy pointed at it and said softly “This one’s me. You can drop me here, it’s not too far”

But Bonnie turned, and started to drive down the way to the house. “I’ll take you up to the door. Safety first.” 

As the house slowly came into view, Bonnie gasped and said, louder than anything she had said all day, “It’s PINK??”

Marcy laughed and turned to look at her. Bonnie’s face was split into a brilliant smile, and her eyes were wide and full of childlike glee. “Yes, its pink.” Marcy conceded. 

Bonnie pulled up in front of the house, put the car in park, and turned to Marcy, still grinning ear to ear, eyes shining. “It’s beautiful!” she gushed, “I never imagined you would live here! In this little pink house! How beautiful it is! And surrounded by these trees it’s almost like it’s in a little beautiful cave… this is amazing!”

Marcy stared at Bonnie, shocked. She hadn’t seen her smile like this, not ever. She was so upright and stiff at work, and that was how Marcy knew her to be. Closed off and cold. But this smile was pure warmth, radiating off of Bonnie and seeping into Marcy’s bones. She was stunned. But she didn’t want Bonnie to leave. 

“Do you… want to come in? I owe you one… or a few.” Marcy managed to say, calmly. But Bonnie’s face fell. Marcy was immediately regretful. How had she let this happen? 

“No, I guess I should go. It’s late and I probably should get going on my homework. Have a good night. Maybe I’ll see you around.” She said, suddenly distant. Marcy couldn’t help feeling a little bit hurt. 

“Oh, okay. That’s fine. Maybe some other time. I guess.” Marcy tried hard to keep the hurt out of her voice. She really did.   
But she wasn’t sure how successful she’d been. 

Bonnie seemed to have noticed her change in tone. “Yeah, I guess another time. It’s… a nice house.” She responded weakly. It wasn’t very convincing, but it seemed like Bonnie was trying to make Marcy feel better. Oh well, Marcy thought, this is it. It’s the end. She would never see her again. Not that she wanted to. She was just the Hallmark cashier.


	3. Bonnibel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonnibel overthinks things. One of her many talents.

Shoot, Bonnibel thought. The question had caught her off guard and she had just… gone with her usual. She really didn’t want to go home. She wanted to stay. She wanted to see the inside of the house. She was intrigued by this soft pink house. Why did Marceline shoplift such random, small things if she lived in such a nice house? Is this how she afforded the house? What a mystery. What an enigma. Something she could study. 

No, no. That would be rude. Bonnibel was not rude. She couldn’t possibly think of this girl, this confusing, strange, shining girl as something to study. She would be offended. 

Why was she so afraid to offend her, though? This was a shoplifter. A criminal. Why had she driven her home? What was she thinking? Why was she so taken aback when Marceline’s voice had fell, why did she try so hard to backpedal, why did she want to make her feel better, what was she really doing here… There were so many questions in her head she didn’t know what to think. She just stared at Marceline, straight into her eyes, and imagined she could see the gates closing behind them. Marceline had opened up, just a little, and now she was going to retreat again. This was exactly what Bonnibel didn’t want. 

But why didn’t she want that! Why!!! 

She was almost angry with herself. This was entirely new. This was strange. Bonnibel didn’t really… make friends. Especially not with strangers. Strange shoplifters. 

She was going to freak out if she did not get away from this situation. Like, now. 

She opened her mouth to say “Well I guess I’d better go” just as Marceline opened HER mouth, presumably to say the same thing. They exchanged awkward “no, you go ahead”s before finally Marceline said “I’m really… Uh… Thank you. For this. Um. I’ll go now, you probably have… homework or something. So. I’m gonna… Yeah.”

Bonnibel’s heart sped up a little bit more. “Yeah. I should… I should do my homework. I have work tomorrow. So.” 

Shoot! Why had she mentioned that! It sounded like she was inviting her or something. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted Marceline to come back. It was something of a moral dilemma. 

“Oh. Yeah. Ok, well… Thanks. Again.”

Marceline tried to open the car door, but it was locked. Bonnibel, embarrassed, said “Oh! I’m so sorry. Let me just… Sorry” while fumbling with the unlock button on her side. Marceline laughed. The tension dissipated as the two broke out into laughter. Bonnibel felt comfortable again. Here was that easy laughter again. 

She… wanted to hate it. 

“Okay, okay, here. It’s unlocked now.” She laughed, pressing the button. Just as Marceline reached for the handle, she locked it again, so the door wouldn’t open. Marceline doubled up in laughter, crying “you jerk!” through her cackles. Bonnibel laughed silently, eyes almost closed, but still glued to Marceline’s face. She seemed almost flushed from the laughter, and her eyes were almost sparkling. Almost, Bonnibel reminded herself. She unlocked the door again and took her hands away from the buttons. 

“Okay this time for real. I won’t touch it.” Marceline, still laughing, reached for the door handle, pulled away, reached for it again, pulled away again, and then snatched it as fast as she could to open it. Bonnibel laughed again, trying to catch her breath. Why was she so comfortable again? Here came the questions.   
Marceline finally stepped out of the car, still giggling to herself. “Okay, sorry, last time. Thank you.” She sobered up a little, leaning down to look into the car, straight into Bonnibel’s eyes. She felt her heart speed up. Marceline’s eyes didn’t look as closed off as she had expected them to be. “For everything. Really.” This was the most sincere that she ever sounded, Bonnibel thought. Her cheeks flushed. 

“Don’t mention it.” She responded. Did she mean it? Did she want to hide this interaction? What good would it do? She was sure she didn’t have any mutual acquaintances with this strange girl. 

“O-okay.” Marceline said. She had taken it seriously, Bonnibel guessed. How serious had she sounded? This was bad. She didn’t know what to do about it, though. “Okay.” She repeated back. That was it. Marceline grabbed her bag and shut the door. Bonnibel watched her turn around and trudge towards the house. As she got to the door, she glanced over her shoulder. They locked eyes, briefly. Bonnibel looked away first. She put the car into reverse, backing up down the long driveway. As she got to the end, she looked back. Marceline was still there, staring over her shoulder, hand on the doorknob. She lifted it briefly, as if she was going to wave. Bonnibel stared, and Marceline put her hand back down. She turned the knob and walked inside. Bonnibel felt a little bit let down. This was unacceptable. She turned away and backed up the last few feet into the main street and headed home. 

Driving back in silence, Bonnibel was left alone with her thoughts. What a strange girl. What a strange encounter. Why had she reacted like that? Why was it so easy to laugh with that girl? Marceline was a bad person. She couldn’t let herself befriend her. 

But she wanted to. 

Frustrated, Bonnibel closed her book and sat back in her desk chair. She let her head hang back over the chair, her hair fluffing behind her. She ran her fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp. Her hair wasn’t damaged, and her skin felt fine, even though she had bleached it recently. She almost wished she hadn’t, just so she would have an excuse to do something with it now. She couldn’t focus.


	4. Marcy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcy thinks, too. And has a tragic backstory.

Marcy walked in and put the handle of her bag over the top of one of the dining room chairs. She sat down in the chair and put her elbows on the table so she could rest her head in her hands. That was…. The weirdest thing that had ever happened to her. And she couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

Fooling around with Bonnie had been easy. Laughing had come easily. 

But this girl could easily get her in serious trouble. She couldn’t trust her. Could she? It was risky. They couldn’t be friends. It could never work. 

But… 

Her eyes closed. Her head was buzzing with thoughts. She was confused. But she wanted to see Bonnie again. It was a bad idea. A really bad idea. Then again, so was almost everything she did. 

“Acting out” they called it. She was “acting out” to get attention. And it was… True, she guessed. Her father didn’t pay attention to her unless he was getting called to the principal’s office and being forced to drive her home. Even then, she was subjected to stony silence. All she had wanted was to be noticed.   
Now things were different. A little bit. She was an adult now, her father never came home, but it was nice. It was her house. But really nice, because he paid for it. It was kinda cool to have a powerful businessman for a father. 

But the shoplifting stuck. She had entire rooms full of little stuff, gadgets and stuffed animals and key chains and things that she didn’t need. She never sold any of it. She just had it. Sitting there. It had started in the spare room, but once she had gathered too many things, she started to put things into the room that was supposed to be her father’s. Maybe he would notice. Probably not. He never came home. Why would he. 

Marcy was getting upset about it again. She tried so hard not to think about it. But now she was caught up in it again. At least it was a distraction from thinking about Bonnie. 

Ok, well now she was thinking about Bonnie again. Definitely backfired. 

She picked up her backpack and wandered to her bedroom, lost in thought. What a night. She reached for the keychain that she had almost gotten herself arrested over, and realized it wasn’t in her pocket. It should be there. Shit, she thought. It’s gone. It’s really… Not there. Which means…

Bonnie’s car. Oh shit. It was probably sitting in Bonnie’s car. What would she do with it? Just leave it? Or would she bring it in? Put it back on the shelf? … Give it back to Marcy?

Ok be honest with yourself, Marcy. Why would she do that? She’s gonna find it and bring it back to her shop and never think about her again, Marcy thought to herself. 

Or would she?

This was all too confusing. 

She lay back on her bed, not bothering to unlace her shoes. She was too overwhelmed. 

Ok, no. She needed to take off her boots. She was just gonna go to bed. Her head was to full of thoughts. 

Boots off, pajamas on, lying in bed, Marcy realized that “just go to sleep” was not a good plan. She was still full of thoughts. Still. What would she do? What could she do? 

She decided to go back tomorrow. She would see Bonnie again and act normal. Like she always did. It would be on Bonnie to direct the interaction. 

With that in her head, Marcy rolled over and closed her eyes. It was on Bonnie now.


	5. Bonnibel

Bonnibel was lost in thought. She had been staring at her laptop screen for hours. Time to give up. 

Going to sleep was going to be hard. She still had the same questions swirling around her head. She couldn’t come up with a single answer. She lay down in bed and stared, eyes open, at the ceiling. There was no way she could approach Marceline. What would she do if she came in to the store tomorrow? Marceline would have to decide what to do then. It was on Marceline. 

She closed her eyes. Marceline would make this decision. Not her.   
***  
When she woke up, Bonnibel felt a little better. The whole situation was easier in the morning, now that she had some distance from Marceline. She was able to curl her hair, perfectly as always, and pack her backpack. Another long day of school, and she needed her wits about her. 

Bonnibel literally could not focus at all. This was not working. Not at all. She was so distracted, thinking about going to work and seeing Marceline again. She couldn’t even focus on her biology class, and that was her favorite subject. Well, beside chemistry. And physics. Bonnibel loved science more than anything. But she couldn’t focus on anything today. 

Parking in the parking garage at the run-down mall filled her with anxiety. She could see the spot that she was parked in last night. There was a spot near it, closer than the spot she took, but she couldn’t take it. She parked the next row over. 

She was jittery and stressed, walking towards the mall. She considered pulling out her phone and calling in sick. She couldn’t do that, though. It would feel like admitting defeat. That and she had never missed a day before. She couldn’t break that streak now. 

Her shift passed slowly. Almost nobody came in today. There were only a few minutes left of her shift. Would Marceline show up? Did she know when Bonnibel’s shift ended? What if they missed each other? Would she be able to handle it? 

Walking out of the mall, Bonnibel glanced over at the bench where they had sat, not a day ago. The bench was empty. Marceline hadn’t shown up. Bonnibel felt something run through her chest. Disappointment? Maybe. 

Days passed, uneventfully.   
***  
Her purse turned over when she was forced to hit the brakes too hard, and the contents spilled themselves over the passenger seat. Bonnibel sighed, resigned, and as she pulled in to her driveway and put it in park, she leaned over to grab everything and put it back into her purse. Scrambling around under the seat with her fingers, she grabbed something cold and hard. She pulled it out and stared at it. A… keychain? This was familiar. This was from her work. But how did it get here? 

Marceline. Marceline must have taken this. This was one of the things that she stole, and she left it in the car. Was it on purpose? 

Bonnibel was once again filled with stress. She had taken her mind off of Marceline for so long. But now she was back in her brain, filling it up with doubts and concerns. What would she do with the keychain? Keep it? Put it back in the store? … Give it back to Marceline? 

No, how would she do that? She didn’t know anything about Marceline. She didn’t even know what her last name was. All she knew was…..

Where she lived. 

She knew where Marceline lived. 

Her head swirling with scenarios, she couldn’t help but think about what would happen if she showed up at Marceline’s house. Would she be invited in? Would Marceline laugh at her? Would she yell? What would BONNIBEL do?? Would she act cool? Casual? Would she panic? 

Ok, Bonnibel thought, be honest. You’ll probably panic.   
***  
Sitting at the very end of the driveway, Bonnibel could just barely see Marceline’s house. This was literally the stupidest thing she could have done. How hard would it have been for her to take the stupid keychain and put it in her pocket, walk into the store and shove it out of her pocket behind the one shelf that blocks the cameras, kick it out into the middle of the store, look surprised, and pick it up to put it back on the shelf? Easy. Only an eight step process. But here she was, a half an hour drive out of her way, sitting in the driveway of a complete stranger to return stolen merchandise to her. 

How stupid could she get?

Marceline might not even be here, she thought to herself. You might have driven all the way here for nothing. Who knows where she might be? She probably has a life! And friends! Why would she be here? 

Her shift had been slow. Almost nobody had walked in, other than the old folks from the community across the street. They never bought anything, just cooed over Bonnibel’s hair and talked about how lovely cards were these days. Bonnibel had almost lost her patience today. If you love the cards so much, buy one! Or leave, and stop messing up my conversion! 

Marceline hadn’t shown up. 

But, here she was, possibly about to see her again. Did she want to?

Okay, stupid question. Obviously she wanted to see her. Why else would she be here? 

Taking a breath and trying to steel her nerves, she put the car back into drive and pulled forward into the clearing that sheltered the little pink house. She put the car in park and stepped out, breathing in the crisp air. It was nice, up here. The air was cleaner than down in the city, and now that the sun was down, it was a lovely temperature out. The air seemed mellow. 

She stood on the doorstep, hand raised to the door, poised to knock, for way too long. She hoped nobody could see her out here. Finally, when she knocked, there was silence. She waited, heart in her throat, but nobody came. 

Right as she was about to leave, the door swung open and Marceline was standing there, breathless as if she had run, eyes shining and laughter on her voice.   
“Finally, you knocked! You waited a long time. I watched you sit in the driveway. What were you waiting for?” 

Marceline’s voice confirmed her fears. Of COURSE she had been watching. Bonnibel’s face burned.

“Well, I WAS going to give something back to you, but I’m not really sure if I want to anymore.” She said, angry and embarrassed. How dare Marceline have seen? She would probably make fun of her for the rest of her life, honestly. 

Would she even be in the rest of her life?

“Nah, nah, it’s okay! I’ve got anxiety too. I was just pokin’ fun.” Marceline laughed a little, shaking her head. “But really, why are you here? I kinda thought you, like… well… never mind.”

Bonnibel knew exactly what that was going to be. “I kinda thought you, like, hated me.”

She got that a lot. Apparently she suffered from something called “resting bitch face,” according to the mean girls who sat behind her in her English class.   
“No, I… well, I brought… This is stupid, I don’t know why I did it, but… It’s… I found this in my car. I believe it’s yours.” She pulled the keychain out of the side pocket of her bag. 

Marceline stared, looking completely stunned, for what felt like a long time. Then, her face broke into the same open, unguarded smile, and she laughed, loudly, throwing her head back. Bonnibel started to laugh, too. It was hard not to. Marceline’s laugh was contagious. 

Laughing, Bonnibel asked “Why are you laughing??” 

Marceline could barely get the words out. “You believe… that’s… MINE??? I literally…. Stole that….. from YOUR STORE!!!” 

“Well, what was I gonna do? Waltz right in and put it back on the shelf? That would be pretty hard to explain!” 

She was wheezing now, her hands on her knees, black hair falling forward in front of her face. “So you just…. Brought it here…… to give it back to me???”   
Bonnibel could see how idiotic it sounded, but she stuck to it. “Yeah, I did. Do you want it or not?” 

Marceline looked up, eyes bright and open, face pink from laughing. “Yeah, I guess I do. But only if you come in. I owe you tea, or something. And an explanation.”

Bonnibel was… pleased. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was. Marceline stepped back a bit, and Bonnibel followed her into the cozy pink house. It was messy, but it felt homey, and put her at ease. 

Marceline closed the door behind her, and silence fell over the little clearing outside the pink house again.


	6. Epilogue: Marcy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very successful lift.

If someone had told Marcy six months ago that the girl behind the checkout counter at the Hallmark she stole from would be lying down next to her on the couch, head in her lap and reading a huge, heavy-looking physics textbook, she wouldn’t have believed them. Why would the perfectly poised, perfectly coiffed, perfectly behaved girl behind that counter ever come near her? 

Apparently, all it had taken was a few flubbed lifts and one car ride home. 

As Bonnie groaned and placed the book on her face, Marcy looked down at her and put her phone aside. 

“What’s up? Not as fun as you thought?” She asked, amused. 

Bonnie lifted the book up again and gave her a dirty look before placing it back down on her face. “NO. The physics is FINE. What’s not fine is ME!”

“I think you’re more than fine.” Marcy smirked, scratching lightly at Bonnie’s shoulder with her fingernails. 

“Shut up, stop being like that. I mean… I’m so screwed! How can they knock down that mall? I need it! My job is there!” Her voice was muffled by the textbook, but Marcy knew exactly what she was saying. Bonnie had been stressed about the imminent death of her beloved mall since before it had even been announced. (How did that mall stay up in the first place? Nobody ever bought anything.” Marcy had said upon hearing the news, earning her a smack on the back of the head from Bonnie.) 

“You’ll find another job easy, Bonnie. Your resume is perfect and your grades are flawless. They would be hard-pressed to find a candidate who sparkles as much as you do, honestly.”

Bonnie peeked over the book. “You’re just saying that.” 

“How could I be ‘just saying that’? It’s literally the truth. You’ve never gotten fired, never gotten a grade below a B, and you have, like, a million hours of community service! It’s just the facts!”

Marcy could see the blush coming up Bonnie’s cheeks over the top of the book and snagged the book, pulling it off of her face and laying it, still open, on the back of the couch where Bonnie couldn’t reach it. “Time to take a break. You need to calm down.”

“No! Marceline, come on! Finals are coming up!” 

She had a point, but Bonnie was too stressed to function anyways, and Marcy could tell. She put one hand on Bonnie’s shoulder and ran the other one through the hair at the crown of Bonnie’s head, slowly petting her hair and massaging her head a little. Running her fingers through Bonnie’s hair always seemed to calm her, even if it did ruin her curls a little. 

Bonnie sighed and closed her eyes, turning her head a little so Marcy could reach behind her ear. “I guess I’ll just apply for a different hallmark. There’s one in the mall near here, right?” she mumbled, suddenly sleepy. 

“Yeah, there is. I’ll be sure to come visit you when you work.” Marcy grinned, and Bonnie opened one eye to glare at her. “You behave yourself! I don’t want to get fired because my girlfriend keeps stealing while I’m on the clock, you idiot.” She closed her eye again and went back to snuggling into Marcy’s soft petting. 

“Fine, fine, I’ll try not to lift anything. But you better be careful, or I might just steal your heart!”

“You’ve already got it, Marceline.”

**Author's Note:**

> This fic literally came from the post about "Credit to the artist" basically being like "money to the cashier" as you actively steal things. My roommate said "Bubbline AU" and I ran with it. This is their birthday present. (And today is their birthday!)   
> I did some research but like... to be completely honest I've never actually watched Adventure Time. The mall is based off a mall I worked in once. I found out it was being torn down a few days ago... RIP.   
> As always, leave a comment or some kudos, I thrive off of validation.   
> I yell into the void using fragile-euphoria.tumblr.com sometimes!


End file.
